Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic

Founded:
1983-1987 with Penn’s School of Social Work
2002- with Penn’s Medical School/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and School of Social Work

The Child Advocacy Clinic is truly an innovative, interdisciplinary clinical seminar that teams law students, medical students, and social work students to study the legal system's response to the problem of children not adequately cared for by their families in an interdisciplinary context, and to represent children in the role of Child Advocate in Dependency Court proceedings.

Students represent their clients in court hearings (under "student practice" rules of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court), participate in developing a plan to serve the child's best interest, and in assuring that the plan is carried out through a variety of interactions with parents, the Department of Human Services (DHS), and various service providers.

The twice-weekly seminars are co-taught at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) by an interdisciplinary faculty team:

• Practice Professor Alan M. Lerner of the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Dr. Cindy Christian, who holds the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Chair in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, serves as Co-Director of Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
• Diane Smith-Hoban, MSW, a social worker with extensive background in child welfare.

Clinic students meet twice weekly at CHOP in a 90 minute seminar. After the first two weeks, the classes are divided between a weekly syllabus topic and a weekly case-rounds fieldwork discussion. In addition each student is required to keep a journal of their work and experiences, both in the seminar and the fieldwork, and to participate in a simulation exercise.